My hat is off to Sheriff Scott for pointing out the hypocrisy of the NAACP without pulling any punches and doing it quite civilly I might add.
I would bet money he received no reply either.

My thanks to a certain sweet little old lady for sending it to me in an Email.

Please feel free to pass it along.

mi@ Scott

Office 0f the Sheriff

State 0f Florida

County of Lee

July 16, 2013

Lee County Branch NAACP

3903 Dr. Martin Luther King Boulevard
Fort Myers, FL 33916

Attn. President James Muwakkil

Dear President Muwakkil:

I have been invited to the NAACP Freedom Fund Awards Banquet and
have been asked to sponsor the event financially. I will not be doing
either but wanted to explain my concerns and the reasons for my
decision. Frankly, I believe the NAACP locally and nationally loses
credibility when it picks and chooses which issues it rallies around and
embraces what often appears to be a double standard relative to race and
ethnicity. I am citing two (2) local and recent examples of my concern.

Tragically, record numbers of young, black males have been gunned down
in the streets of Fort Myers in an epidemic of alarming proportions over
the last few years. In virtually every instance the killer was also black
and the majority of those cases remain open. Many more black citizens
have been injured and were lucky to survive similar circumstances. To
date, I am unaware of any appreciable attention or public outcry the
NAACP locally­ or nationally have afforded these issues in our own,
proverbial backyard. '

Conversely, you immediately inserted yourself and the Lee County Branch
in the matter of Trayvon Martin’s tragic death in a city hours from ours
and publically declared that matter to have been mishandled by the police
while expressing your intention to travel to Sanford sporting a “hoodie”

I suspect that when you said that, you had not examined any of the
evidence or specifics of the incident; and I am certain you would not have
reacted that way had George Zimmerman been black or Trayvon Martin
white.

The fact is that Zimmerman is half Latino [Peruvian mother) but was
portrayed early on by media and others as being “white.” That seemed to
fit better for a “white/black” contrast much like the media altering of the
911 recordings helped fan the flames of racism early on. Ironically,
President Obama is half white but is generally referred to as being “black”

and so there appears to be an inclination among some to insert ethnicity
as it fits with their agenda.

Fast forward to the trial and verdict which resulted in Zimmerman’s
acquittal...the same trial, verdict, and in fact justice system that you
would have applauded had it convicted him. A leading cause of death for
young, black males across our nation is murder and an astounding
percentage is being murdered 'by young, black males. The noticeable lack
of involvement and attention given those tragedies by the NAACP begs the
question why in my mind. Black on black and black on white seem to
illicit far less emotion than the proportionately occasional white on black
examples like Zimmerman who as noted earlier is actually only as
“white” as President Obama.

Finally, I find resurrected fixation with the portrait of Robert E. Lee
and the demand for its removal regrettable. The timing so proximate to
the Zimmerman race baiting is certainly suspect. While I am not black, l
continue to be amazed by what is deemed “racially offensive and] or
insensitive” and what is not. For example, the rampant use of the word

“nigger” in the wildly popular hip-hop culture that floods the ears of

youth across this nation and is comprised primarily of black artists

apparently stirs little to no emotion among blacks but the portrait of à
General Lee does? I am fifty (50) years old, and I have heard more black '
people (including top, black comedians being funny] utter the word

“nigger” in my lifetime than I could have ever fathomed. I continue to

wonder why the NAACP does not publicly decry this trend and advocate
its cessation. It is for these reasons that I feel your focus on the Lee
portrait amounts to little more than unrealistic posturing that serves to
further a divide and promote a double standard. After all sir; our county is
named after General Robert E. Lee and his portrait is far from the only
reference to him, so I am left to Wonder where this agenda stops.

I consider you a friend and hope my candor does not ruin that; however, I
simply find myself unable to support your professional agenda, which I
believe actually contradicts the end goal of eliminating double standards.

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